Wednesday

Feb 6, 2019 at 3:00 PMFeb 6, 2019 at 3:00 PM

Chris Ruden has the kind of physique and charisma that bodybuilders strive for. He is muscular and cut, with short dark hair, tattoos and a winning smile.

He is the type of athlete producers from NBC’s “The Titan Games” sought out to compete on a show hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that tests the limits of human endurance, strength and mental fortitude.

“There were hundreds of thousands of people who applied for this show, and I was not one of them,” Ruden says. “They found me on social media.”

At 28, Ruden has broken numerous records for powerlifting and makes his living as a motivational speaker. The story might seem less than extraordinary, but there’s more.

Between work, exercise and spending time with his Boynton Beach, Fla., girlfriend, Ruden, a Type 1 diabetic, has to take insulin shots — sometimes up to 12 times per day.

Even then, it would be difficult to use his left hand to do it, because he was born with a congenital defect that left the arm shorter than average and with only two fingers.

After a girl in junior high school made fun of him, Ruden hid his arm in a glove for 17 years. He eventually got a $150,000 detachable prosthetic, but even when training or out with his girlfriend, no one saw his natural arm again.

But that all changed in 2017 when Ruden publicly removed the prosthetic for the first time in YouTube video that garnered almost 3 million views.

“It was the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders,” Ruden says of finally feeling comfortable in his own skin. “I’ve broken tons of records in powerlifting, but that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

One day last autumn, the prosthetic was stolen from Ruden’s truck when he was parked at the Advenir at Banyan Lake apartments in Boynton Beach. “I was devastated,” he says. “That was the thing that let me be me.”

But Ruden’s luck was about to change, courtesy of the Boynton Beach Police Department.

“A few detectives from the Boynton Beach police came in of their off day, which I thought was so impressive and so respectable,” Ruden says.

The officers found the arm tossed in a nearby bush. “That was the luckiest day of my life, for sure,” Rudin says. “Along with meeting The Rock — both of those were pretty lucky.”

After getting the arm back, Ruden lost the competition on “The Titan Games,” but says it was still one of the best experiences of his life.

“I was there to spread my message,” he says. “Everything I do is geared toward helping other people and to be the person I never had in my life and help people struggling with disabilities or diabetes.”

Ruden, who lives in Coconut Creek, is grateful for the opportunity the show provided to speak out in support of others who may be suffering from the same fears and insecurities he once had.

“I received hundreds and hundreds of emails from kids and parents, many in tears,” he says. “They said, ‘Thank you for doing that. You let my son, you let my daughter, feel comfortable in their own skin. She was ready to give up, and she didn’t because of that episode.’”

All’s well that ends well, and Ruden has no ill feelings toward the city where his arm was stolen. In fact, some say life is a series of lessons, and Ruden certainly learned an important one in Boynton Beach.